Linguistic portraits

The history of science is a neglected area in Hungarian scholarship. This is why the volume Nyelvészportrék (Linguistic Portraits), in which György Szépe (1931–2012) presents 39 Hungarian linguists, is important. The writings span more than 50 years, as the first was published in 1956 and the last was published in 2012. Some of the portraits, painted with great insight, are celebratory writings that were written on a certain anniversary of the celebrated linguist's birth, while the other part of the articles is a commemoration that was published after the death of the renowned linguist as a tribute or recollection. The totality of the "portraits" creates a wonderful group picture that includes almost every prominent Hungarian linguist of the second half of the 20th century. The people depicted in the volume were mostly acquaintances and colleagues of the author, and in more than one case, close contemporaries or paternal friends. It is therefore natural that, in addition to the recent history of linguistics, the excerpts will also, willy-nilly, draw a kind of portrait of the author himself, György Szépe. The reader will recognize him again and again. Therefore, not only the subjects of the portraits can live on in the reader (in the profession and those interested in related professions), but also the portrait painter. The diverse richness of the 39 portraits is shown by the index at the end of the volume, which contains 850 entries. The long index also proves that Linguistic Portraits is indispensable for those investigating the history of Hungarian linguistics in the second half of the 20th century. We recommend the book to all those interested in linguistics. We are sure that studying the lives and work of the great linguists of the recent past will awaken in many a desire for a deeper understanding of the achievements of linguistics. László Antal • László A. Arany • János Arany • Sámuel Brassai • Aurélné Brunner • Comenius, Johannes Amos • Magda Csécsy • Sándor Eckhardt • Ferenc Fabricius-Kovács • István Fodor • Iván Fónagy • László Gáldi • Péter Hajdú • János Hankiss • Lajos Hegedűs • Gyula Herczeg • Miklós Hutterer • Jakobson, Roman • Jenő Juhász • Sándor Karácsony • Kálmán Keresztes • Balázs Kézdi • István Kniezsa • György Kontra • Gyula Laziczius • János Lotz • Károly Nagy • Ferenc Papp • Mózes Rubinyi • Zsigmond Simonyi • Wolfgang Steinitz • Zoltán Szabó • Aladár Szende • János Szentágothai • Árpádné Szentgróti • Lajos Tamás • Zsigmond Telegdi • László Vekerdi • József Zsolnai The 153rd member of the series of Reference books for the study of linguistics.